You're Gonna Lose
by megchristinexx
Summary: (Original Characters) (One shot) Three kids are on the run for their life. Trying to survive when you're being hunted down isn't always the easiest thing... Battling their enemy, mutant winged wolf-human mutts, could prove to be harder then they thought. And what price will they have to pay to keep themselves safe? Rated T to be safe. Please R&R, feedback is greatly appreciated :)


**A little one-shot I wrote for a short story assignment in English class, but I thought I'd post it on here and see what you guys think! :) Original Characters. I don't call the wolf guys Erasers. That was really Max and her flock's thing. This is also posted on my edublog site for school, so don't accuse me of plagiarizing if you see it elsewhere... **

**Please R&R, I'd love some feedback!**

**I don't own Maximum Ride. If I did, I probably wouldn't be on here.**

_I'm a bird-kid. Part bird (no beak or anything, just the wings and light weight attributes, thank god), and part 16 year old sarcastic as hell female human. Don't ask me how, I don't even know ok. It's like my memory was wiped clean. The same goes for my two companions Calum and Aden, although Aden is part fox instead. We have been on the run for as long as we can remember because of our… differences from the general population. Hunted, by other wolf-man hybrids that, somewhere along the road of them trying to kill us, suddenly developed wings (which was really weird and strangely convenient if you ask me). We had been doing pretty well for ourselves, until today, when we were ambushed by a horde of the ever so persistent wolf guys (they seriously have an obsession problem or something). Now it was a fight for survival, and it was bound to get ugly…_

As I soared through the air, my wings working double time to evade the awful battle all around me, I felt free. Even though I was currently fighting for my life, the thrill of flying, of being almost weightless and gliding through the amazing expanse around me was the most wonderful feeling anyone could ever imagine. To normal people without wings, I guess they couldn't understand it. It's not like being in a plane or even skydiving. I have _control._ There just aren't words.

Flying is the best, even when battling bulky part-wolf-part-human-part-bird freaks who are trying to rip you limb from limb. They could never experience the same joy, for they had dense bones, and wings that could have been duct taped and glued to their backs by a 3 year old for how useless and clumsy they are. I could tell by the ungraceful moves and their sweating brows that they must soon give up the fight and return to the ground were they belonged… Oh yeah. I forgot about that… I was trying to stay alive here.

My 12 foot wingspan was in itself a force to be reckoned with. Strong and sleek, the crimson feathers dotted with speckles of yellow and brown had a sort of glow about them in the beating sunlight of the afternoon. Not to brag or anything, but my wings were truly awesome. They weren't as terrifyingly dark as Calum's though. His wings were straight black as a midnight sky, matching the mop of hair on his head. They were larger than mine too, at a span of about 14 feet. It was almost menacing.

The wind whipped my long auburn hair around my face as I soared above my predators. They thought I was escaping, flying high above them until I abruptly folded my wings and rocketed downwards knocking two of them out of the sky. Because I was then below them, they dove down to try and grab me but I had been doing this dance practically my whole life, and quick as lightning, shot up right past them, beating my wings steadily, unlike them. They shot forward and hopelessly tried to get a hold of me but the clumsy fools were too late as I swiftly flew through the air and easily dodged their attack. They grabbed each other instead. I gave a small laugh and shook my head at their dull incapability.

Their overpowering strength was no good up here where they were like flying elephants and I was like a humming bird buzzing around their faces, gracefully kicking their butts… if that sounds graceful to you.

I spun around kicking one of them in the chest and he went tumbling down to the ground below, completely forgetting about those useless wings he had, poorly grafted to his back. As he was falling, he hit some other winged-wolf dudes and knocked them out of the sky. The relentless battle raged on as I punched another one right in the kisser, the impact knocking a few of his pearly whites out of his drooling, dog mouth. Aiming a roundhouse kick at another one's chest, the impact made the wind escape his body with a _whoosh_, but he came right back at me, claws outstretched. I sidestepped him, as far as sidestepping goes when you're flying, and planted a cutting kick in his spine. As if it was a lame sound effect from a movie, there came a disgusting, sickening crack, and he fell down to the ground.

Doing a quick 360, I saw there were about a dozen of them left. I turned back around and was met with a hard, furry hand outstretched with claws coming at my face. I quickly did a tuck and roll in the air, but the filthy mutt's claw was still fast enough to clip my face, as well as my wing. I felt warm blood seep out of my right brow and run down my face into my eye. I quickly wiped it away with the back of my hand and looked back at my wing. Every time I beat my wings a flash of pain shot through them. It wasn't_ completely_ unbearable, but I know I couldn't keep going like this forever if it came to it.

The flying wolf lunged at me again, but like I said, they're elephants in the sky. I dropped a few feet and he stupidly overshot, going tumbling down to the field below. _I swear these guys are too stupid for their own good. _

I clapped my hands over another wolf-man's hypersensitive ears and he dropped like a rock, yelping. I spun around and saw Calum holding his own against about 3 of the mutants. The world around me started to grow distant and fuzzy and I started to feel lightheaded. I must have lost a ton of blood. I was barely keeping myself in the air because of the deep gash along the top of my right wing. It's a good thing I have taught myself to tough these things out, or else I would be on the ground in a heap of blood and bird kid right now.

Shaking my head furiously and trying to steady my vision, I looked to my left and saw our youngest member, Aden was furiously duking it out with a couple more wolf-man-bird hybrids. All of a sudden, I heard a cry escape his throat. The guy he was just winning against, had made an unexpected blow to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and now, the bastard was just laying into him with a sickening fury. He was pounding Aden's small body like it was a punching bag he wanted vengeance on. With every punch, kick, and claw that hit him, a small cry left the muzzle of the poor fox that was Aden.

A hot, boiling anger welled up inside me. I launched myself at the brute, punching him in the nose. I felt it break beneath my fist, and he yelped, clutching his face. But the pain only made him fight harder. _That's what they're designed and bred for. You can beat him. _I mentally prompted myself.

I aimed a kick at my oh-so persistent enemy, but he grabbed my ankle, swinging me in a circle and then tossing me a good few meters away. Like a pop up doll, I sprung straight back up, now only even madder at this guy. I painfully spread my wings, even though I could feel the stream of thick blood running another red river through the feathers as they expanded, flew up a few feet, and then came back down slamming him in the stomach with a powerful kick. He keeled over, and I finished him off with a punch to his face, knocking him out cold as he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Aden!" I screamed my younger companion's name, rushing over to his side. He gave a feeble moan.

"Jesus, Aden, I'm so sorry. Come on, we have to get out of here before more –" I was cut off by the sound of about 50 heavy boots hitting the ground, charging for us. That is exactly what we needed. Fantastic.

It was clear that Aden was in no condition to start running, let alone even raise himself off the ground by himself. He had been beaten to a near pulp by the half-breed mongrel. I picked him up, and clutching his limp, beaten body in my arms I hollered to Calum.

"Get out of here! We can't take this many." I didn't care which way he went, other than away from the oncoming threat. It seemed as if the pack was a never ending infinity of mutant beings thundering over the ground towards us, their instincts taking over and gearing them ready for a hunt.

Calum gave me a curt nod, hearing my cries and spread his wings, taking off. I ran and ran with Aden in my arms, hoping I was still able to outrun the heavy-set cross breeds with 60 more pounds of boy to pack along. There was no way I would be able to fly for more than an hour carrying his weight. From my experience, these nasty creatures chasing me are relentless and don't tire easily, so I was going to have to fly faster and harder than I ever had before, despite my impaired wing.

All I could hear as I dashed through the air was the wind working against my body and my own blood pumping through my ears. The dead weight of Aden was noticeably slowing me down, but I could still keep a quick steady pace ahead of the oncoming storm of wolf-men chasing hastily after me.

Coming up was a dense forest littered with foliage that would easily hide me from anyone looking down from above. Although, I couldn't risk going down yet, as my pursuers were hot on my tail and would be close enough that they could follow me down. Not to mention that taking a nose dive into a thick and dense package of tree branches while carrying someone is almost surely not destined to go well. I need to get Aden to Calum and lure the wolf guys away from them. Just as quickly as I finished my plan in my head, a figure in the distance caught my attention. Calum.

I propelled myself forward with my steadfast gaze fixed upon my friend and the beat of my wings a little choppy. The injured wing was causing me a lot of pain but I tried to shut that part of my brain off and focus on getting my boys safe.

"I need you to take him." Was the first thing I said to Calum when I caught up with him, hastily handing over the limp body to him. It was a split second too late before I noticed the winged mutt shoot between us like a bullet, grabbing Aden from our arms. As he barreled through us, he knocked me out of the sky, and I plummeted downwards a good six meters before I could compose myself. The force of snapping open my wings against falling at such a fast pace was an agonizing feat but it didn't matter. They had Aden, and I had to get him back at all costs. He was my family.

I was in a panicked state, the adrenaline pumping through my veins the only thing keeping me moving like a car running on pure gasoline. If it weren't for my dead-set focus on getting Aden back, I would've been a complete mess of bloody, beaten kid mutant with not a stable thought in her mind.

As we both steadied ourselves, Calum and I exchanged quick glances and rocketed off after the mutt who had grabbed Aden. We weren't far behind, even though he had caught us completely off guard. We were fast and efficient light weight flyers whereas they were clumsy and often faltered like big brutes trying to precariously navigate their way through the open air.

The captor all of a sudden dropped on a diagonal downwards to the large pack of his allies below. Calum and I had no choice but to follow them and fight for our companion. I touched down hard, stumbling a bit from the not-so-elegant landing, and before I knew it, there were 10 of the mutant dog men on me quick as lightning. I was hopelessly pinned to the ground, stuck under their heavy weight and jeering laughter.

"You think this is a game, you stupid freak?" I spat at the one closest to my face. "You won't be laughing when I'm done tearing you apart!" he responded with another growling chuckle and pressed into my injured wing. My mouth opened and an agonizing cry escaped my throat at the seething pain the creature was causing. I could feel the oncoming threat of tears start to prick at my eyes but I forced it down, demanding myself to not show that kind of weakness.

I turned my head to the left and saw Calum was in the same position as me, helpless and at the mercy of the drooling, dog faced men.

"Stand them up! I want them to watch." A rough growling voice came from someone who looked to be the leader of the brutal pack. I was harshly yanked up by my forearm to stand at the attention of the alpha male. My eyes widened at what lay ahead of me in the field and I struggled at the grasp of the mutts holding me in place. Aden had just started to come to, and he quickly took in the surroundings, a panicked look etched onto his young features. There was nothing I could do to get to him, the arms holding me like steel vices, unwavering and steady.

"I'm so sorry." My eyes met Aden's wide ones. The alpha male, with a smirk, sauntered over to him and moving behind him placed his hands on his head, gripping one on top and one at his chin. I realized what he was intending to do and all the blood left my face.

"You're gonna lose. You're always gonna lose." He looked directly at me as he moved into a ready stance.

The only thing I could see was the swift flick of his wrists and Aden's head snapping abruptly to the side, his body unmoving by his own muscles, and slumping to the ground in a heap. I could hear someone emit a blood curling scream, and it took me a minute before I realized that it was me. I didn't even take notice the arms restraining me had dissipated, and the wolf-men were all leaving at the command of their leader. My focus lay solely on the small body of my 9 year old Aden crumpled on the ground ahead of me, unmoving and dead.

This time, I didn't even make an attempt to stop the storm of tears running a river-like stain down my pale face. The entire world seemed to stop, fixed on that moment. I felt the arms of someone wrap around me, and I thrashed and screamed until I realized it was Calum.

My screams turned into strangled sobs that shook my body with every sound. I felt nothing but the raw pain and hurt of watching Aden die right in front of me, helpless of any means to save his life. I could barely find the air to breathe and my chest felt like it had collapsed in on itself, suffocating me. But it didn't matter what I felt. He was gone. Dead.

They didn't kill us for a reason, because this is worse than any physical pain they could have afflicted. This is worse than the white hot pain of my mauled wing, which I hadn't even regarded. None of it mattered because he was gone.

"I'm sorry." Calum hummed into my ear, consoling me. "I'm so sorry." That's all we ever seemed to say to each other as of late. I'm sorry.

"So am I." I croaked, my voice raw and raspy from my previous screams and crying. I swore to myself, and to Aden, wherever he is now, that I would avenge his death and rid the face of the planet from those sick, awful, killers. I don't care what it takes to do it, or how long it takes.

After what seemed like an eternity of sitting in Calum's strong hold, numb to any feeling, I somehow managed to stand myself, a little unsteady at first. Without saying a word, but knowing he would follow, I turned my back to Calum spreading my wings, and took off into the sky, which had turned dark in the black cloak of night. _No. You're gonna lose._


End file.
